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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25970551">The crew of UES Safe Travels</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cannibal_Blackberries/pseuds/Cannibal_Blackberries'>Cannibal_Blackberries</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Risk of Rain (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Asexual Character, Body Dysphoria, Brother-Sister Relationships, Character Study, Demiromantic Engineer, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Especially from Merc, Fast talking, Found Family, Gay Character, Headcanon, It's mostly headcanon, Lesbian Character, Loader is a flirt, Near Death Experiences, No names only titles, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pansexual Character, Robot blood, Robots, Sexual Confusion, Swearing, a lot of headcanon, sfw</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:07:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,466</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25970551</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cannibal_Blackberries/pseuds/Cannibal_Blackberries</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mostly just me and my friends' headcanons about the ROR2 crew. A lot of these are going to be small &lt; 1000 word fics of general character study. Characters and writing style may change and develop as we go on.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Of monsters and (wo)men</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Just some Huntress and Mercenary fluff stuff.<br/>Mercenary has just returned from a very bad run with Commando and feels guilty about getting him so banged up.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The blue-clad mercenary sat alone in his room, quietly turning the domed helmet in his hands as his thoughts began to drift. It had been a rough run that day, and even though he had done his very best, he couldn’t help the guilt that welled up inside him and made the large scales on his back spike uncomfortably against the thick armour when he thought about the injuries Commando had sustained. He should’ve helped; he could’ve at least lessened the blows to him somehow-</p>
<p>His spiralling train of thought was interrupted by a light knock at the door, causing him to scramble to get the helmet back on his head. He didn’t want anybody seeing him like this-</p>
<p>“Merc, Mul-T wants to know why you weren’t at dinner today.”</p>
<p>The familiar, almost monotone voice of The Huntress made his shoulders slump, and his body relaxed if only a little. He slowly turned his head towards her. “I’m… Not hungry?” He slowly responded, though it sounded more like a question than an answer.</p>
<p>The robot sighed, allowing her long arms to drop to her sides as she strode over, plopping herself down on the bed beside the mutated human. “Yes, you are. You know I’d be able to tell just by looking at you.” She briefly mused. “Picking out weaknesses in targets and allies alike is what I’m good at. It comes with the job.”</p>
<p>“... Now,” she leaned forward a bit, turning her head to look at him. “Why have you locked yourself away in here, gayass?”</p>
<p>Mercenary finally looked over at the taller woman. Or, what used to be a woman at least. From what she had told him, she had exchanged her human body for something more “viable”. And while the new, robotic form looked very human when she was wearing her armour pieces and bodysuit padding, now that she was without it it was painfully clear what she was — just a human mind in a robotic body.</p>
<p>The chassis was a sleek black colour and looked almost too thin without the padding to resemble any kind of muscle structure being there. Commando must’ve insisted she take off her suit back at the base again, Mercenary reasoned.</p>
<p>It was only when Huntress pretended to clear her throat that he noticed how long he’d been staring.</p>
<p>“Sorry, sorry, I’m so sorry-” He began, only for Huntress to make a dismissive hand motion, her way to tell him “shut up, stop acting stupid.”</p>
<p>“Why have you locked yourself away in here?” She calmly reiterated. “Commando is worrying that you’re mad at him for getting himself so fucked up during today’s run.” She chuckled, but quickly stopped when she watched Mercenary wince at the mention of his companion.</p>
<p>“Mm… Guilt?” She questioned, Mercenary nodding in response to her question. “You lot need to get a lot better at communicating.” The robot softly scolded, giving him a small pat on the back before turning towards him “Let’s get you out of that armour… And before you start complaining, remember that I already know what you look like.” She gently tapped a finger against his helmet, watching as he slowly relaxed, complying to her wishes.</p>
<p>Getting the armour off was always a lengthy process, and often something requiring help. Luckily, Huntress had memorised all the little ways to make it open up more comfortably for him, laying it aside neatly, bit by bit until Mercenary was in the clothes he wore underneath.</p>
<p>She then pointedly made sure he took off his shirt, reminding him that she knew of the large scales on his back, of how uncomfortable they could make him under the right circumstances.</p>
<p>Mercenary sighed, leaning back on his hands as he watched Huntress lay the armour away where it was supposed to go. “So how’s dinner tonight…?” He asked, quiet and shy.</p>
<p>Huntress let out a hum in response, turning towards him, “Commando said it was quite good tonight, but you know he’s prone to sugarcoating rather than telling the truth outright. I’ll bring you a plate.” She cocked her head to the side, studying him for just a moment. “You need to take a bath.”</p>
<p>He couldn’t help his giggle at that, gently waving her off “I’ll bathe after I’ve eaten… Tell Commando I’m not mad at him, ok?”</p>
<p>He could hear the smile in her voice as she headed to the door. “You better. And I will, don’t worry. I’ll be back with your food in just a second.”</p>
<p>As the door closed, Mercenary sighed, laying down on his back, allowing himself to splay out for a moment.</p>
<p>Having a big sister figure sure was nice.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Repair and Refresh</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Some more Engnineer and Huntress focused stuff this time! + Loader and Commando make an appearance.<br/>The jumbled text is entirely intentional, Engineer just kinda talks like that</p>
<p>Small warning for near-death experience this chapter</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A small groan left Huntress as she felt the giant beetle chewing through her synthetic skin, further and further in until sensation finally cut off and she let out a sigh of relief. Going out to activate that goddamn plant-robot-thing alone was a bad idea, she thought, feeling the fuel array strapped to her back growing increasingly unstable. She shut her eyes, preparing herself to wake up in a new body much later.</p>
<p>A splash of cyan across the dark, yellow-brown earth. Teeth gnashing, beetles chittering, whisps floating about, ready to shoot her down again, and again. And then the fuel array finally detonated, causing a scorching flash of pain as the synthetic skin burned away, and then continued to burn, leaving her writhing in pure agony. Had she had a mouth, she would’ve surely gritted her teeth or attempted to muffle the pained wails that left her.</p>
<p>thmp thmp thmp thmp…</p>
<p>She dared open her eyes only a little, only to see the beetles promptly be blasted away. She didn’t feel her limp body being scooped up, as the synthetic skin and thereby her sense of touch was already long gone, burned away by the flames from the fuel array.</p>
<p>“Let’s get you home, sweet cheeks…” Came the murmur. Ah, so it was loader who had picked her up, then. She must not have come alone-</p>
<p>“I-Is she gonna be okay?” A timid voice came. Commando. Must’ve been, even if the sound was hard to hear through the helmet. “She’ll be fine. She’s a strong lass” Loader hummed, turning around to the smaller man, allowing Huntress to see him finally. She could tell by his body language that he was nervous, causing her to let out a low, static chuckle. She watched him tense up as she finally spoke, and she only realised how broken her voice sounded then.</p>
<p>“I’ll be fine, Commando… It’s just a bit of synth skin.”</p>
<p>“It’s not just a bit of synthetic skin!” The small man almost shrieked. “Your arrow fluid is leaking! We gotta get you back to base as soon as we can!”</p>
<p>“Well do it then, coward…” She snickered, even as her voice flickered.</p>
<p>When Loader finally began running, Huntress shut her eyes, deciding to save her energy for when the others got her back to the ship. There would be plenty of work for Engineer to do.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>“Whatthactualfuckhappenedta’er?!” </p>
<p>The familiar sound of jumbled speech made Huntress open her eyes, peering up into the face of a rather distressed-looking Engineer. He wasn’t wearing his helmet, for once, showing one of the only parts of this ridiculous cyborg that still looked human: his face.</p>
<p>“Good afternoon, Engineer” She laughed, quiet and laced with static.</p>
<p>“A’ighta’ight’aightwegottagetchatothelabasap-” He rambled on, practically wrestling her out of Loader’s arms as he continued. “Laserfluidalloverthplace,synthskinburntoff,suminternalstructuredamaged…” He went quiet for just a moment before “Nobodyinterruptmewhile’mworkinkthanksbye!” He shouted, dragging Huntress into the lab.</p>
<p>“What?” Commando softly questioned.</p>
<p>Huntress let out a hum as she was laid upon a person-sized working table. “Got any extra skin around so I can get my sense of touch back?” She immediately questioned, to which Engineer perked up and turned around, rummaging through something.</p>
<p>“Lemmehavealook’ere…” He mumbled. “‘mprettysurewegotsummoreshippedinyesterday.” Once again, he was quiet for a few seconds, continuing his looking before pulling out a fresh set of synthetic skin, complete with the padding needed and all. “Thereitis!”</p>
<p>“Good…” Huntress murmured, slowly turning onto her side-”Stopmoving!” Engineer shrieked, pushing her back onto her back “You’llonlydamageyourwireingmorethanitalreadyis!” </p>
<p>Huntress sighed softly “Fine, fine… I’ll shut down for now, then” “Pleasedo” Engineer grinned. “Lemmeexploreyourbody~” He purred in an unnecessarily lewd tone. “Be happy I know you’re ace, you energetic fuck” Huntress grumbled as she shut her eyes, allowing her body to shut down until Engineer was done with his repairs.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Not a chapter, just an update</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hi :D</p><p>It's ya author, Berry here.<br/>So with the recent resurgence of my hyperfixation on his goddamn game, I'm finally gonna start writing on this fic again. I have a lot of schoolwork I need to get done beforehand, though, but I'll get to this eventually I swear!<br/>So yeah, look out for that</p>
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